Trying to run PS3 conventional

Direction is locked in reverse??

Do a conventional reset:
Press the horn button once followed by pressing the bell button 5 times. Each press should be 1/2 second in duration with 1/2 second pauses between button presses. If the reset is successful, the DCS engine will respond with two short blasts of its horn or whistle.

H1000 posted:

Direction is locked in reverse??

Do a conventional reset:
Press the horn button once followed by pressing the bell button 5 times. Each press should be 1/2 second in duration with 1/2 second pauses between button presses. If the reset is successful, the DCS engine will respond with two short blasts of its horn or whistle.

ditto!

Can't do a conventional reset.  This old Lionel xformer does not have a bell button.

Yeah, You are going to need a bell button in conventional mode. You can also do a factory reset with a DCS system (Remote Commander; Explorer; TIU).

Can someone please be a little more specific on how to reset a ps-3 loco to conventional. I must admit that I rarely run conventional. Ive forgotton how to do the ps-1 stuff. I remember clinks and clanks. I have tried to get my ps-3 railking gp-7 to run in conventional control. When I set the loco on the track and power up (12 volts) the lights come on and the sound starts after a few seconds(assuming capacitor is charging is reason for slight delay). Then the loco will take off in forward without me working the z4000 handle or pressing the direction button. I cannot get it to go to the neutral state. If I press the direction button, it pauses then will continue in forward when I release the button. Is it possible to do a conventional reset when the loco wont sit still? I have tried to do the z4000 throttle handle back and forth to do the clinks and clanks but the loco will not sound clinks and clanks. All functions of DCS seem fine. I also did the DCS factory reset, but it made no difference I just want to be able to  run this conventionally. Oh ya before you ask ........30-20651-1. Thanks for any info

1.  A conventional reset for PS2 and PS3 can only be done in neutral.  1 horn followed by 5 bells about 1/2 second apart.  You must get a confirmation two horn/whistle blasts, if successful.

2.  If it is locked in a direction, you must unlock it by pressing the horn button, followed by 3 bells, with a confirmation 2 horn/whistle blasts, if successful.  The catch is, you must do this while moving, at the lowest voltage possible, to be successful.  Will take multiple attempts.  Best to do this with the smoke turned off so the voltage is below 10 volts, but still moving.

Also, with the postwar transformers with an external Bell button, the internal rectifier most times does not transmit a clean D.C. Offset for the PS boards.  You may be better off using two Lionel 5906 whistle/bell buttons.

If I recall correctly I think Engineer-Joe (who commented above) did a short video once showing how quickly you have to tap the horn and bell buttons to achieve a reset.  I found it helpful because quite frankly I find it difficult to differentiate between a 0.5 or 1.0 second pause between presses.  Also, you know what they say - "A picture's worth a thousand words."  Perhaps Joe could provide a link (to his previous video) on this thread.

@Jon G posted:

1.  A conventional reset for PS2 and PS3 can only be done in neutral.  1 horn followed by 5 bells about 1/2 second apart.  You must get a confirmation two horn/whistle blasts, if successful.

2.  If it is locked in a direction, you must unlock it by pressing the horn button, followed by 3 bells, with a confirmation 2 horn/whistle blasts, if successful.  The catch is, you must do this while moving, at the lowest voltage possible, to be successful.  Will take multiple attempts.  Best to do this with the smoke turned off so the voltage is below 10 volts, but still moving.

Also, with the postwar transformers with an external Bell button, the internal rectifier most times does not transmit a clean D.C. Offset for the PS boards.  You may be better off using two Lionel 5906 whistle/bell buttons.

Jon, thanks for your input. Problem is that I cannot get it to sit in neutral. When I first apply power, lights come on, sounds start about 10 seconds later. Loco will still sit there and not move. But.....when I hit the horn button on my z4000, the loco starts to move. Pressing the direction button only stops the loco while I am holding down on the button. When I release the horn button, the loco moves again in the forward direction. Only way to stop the loco is to kill power to the track. Loco only moves in the forward direction. DCS control seems fine. I have done a DCS factory reset.

It sounds like it is locked in forward.  Do the unlock procedure stated above (may take multiple tries).  If that doesn't work, sound file and DSP code may have to be reloaded.

It's Stan's video I share

Just sold an MTH AS616 for this reason. Ya gotta be a rocket scientist to run these things conventionally

Before you walk out of the store with it you might want to run it to make sure that it's not locked.

In fact check everything that should be working in conventional mode, horn/whistle, direction, etc.

It'll save many headaches if you'd rather not use DCS.

Mike

Thanks Engineer-Joe.

Thanks for the video. I tried taht but no joy.

@Engineer-Joe posted:

It's Stan's video I share

That only works in neutral, not if it’s moving (locked in forward or reverse).

The video shows the timing or cadence of the button presses which can be hard to describe in words.

In your case you only need Horn followed by 3 Bells.  As Jon suggested, did you lower the Z4000 track voltage to slow down the engine?   It may take multiple tries.  It helps to have clean track/wheels and not be going over a switch, crossover, or the like.

@stan2004 posted:

The video shows the timing or cadence of the button presses which can be hard to describe in words.

In your case you only need Horn followed by 3 Bells.  As Jon suggested, did you lower the Z4000 track voltage to slow down the engine?   It may take multiple tries.  It helps to have clean track/wheels and not be going over a switch, crossover, or the like.

Yes, slowed the engine to a crawl at 9.6 volts. Tried several times with no joy. Everything is clean

Since you haven't run conventional in a while, do the Horn and Bell buttons by themselves behave as you expect/remember?

For example, the Bell sound should toggle on/off with 100% reliability (every time) you press  the Bell button.  And when pressing the Horn button, the Horn sound should turn on with a consistent short delay.  Just wondering if the Z4000 might not be generating proper Horn and Bell voltages.

1. Can you fire the rear coupler (B-H-H) and/or front coupler (B-H-H-H); even if your particular engine does not have an operating front coupler you should still get the coupler sound.

2. Do you have any other PS2/3 engines to try the conventional Reset sequence?

3) Is it practical to move the track voltage to the other Z4000 output and try it there?

Don't mean to send you on a snipe hunt...but  these experiments should not take long.

What transformer?  Does it work fine in DCS?  It is not rocket science, and the manual has the some pretty good info on this, but you do need a good AC type transformer and good whistle and bell buttons.

Do a feature and factory reset first on DCS, then turn off track power.  Then place on your conventional track with transformer.  After it starts up if it is moving lower voltage to a crawl.  Do the procedure rapidly as shown/stated.  DCS reset not required, but I have had that clear the issue on occasion.  G

@Ron045 - How'd you make out?  Did you ever successfully get that PS3 equipped engine to run in conventional mode? (I believe Phil 55 and others who have experienced this phenomena would be interested to know).

@PH1975 posted:

@Ron045 - How'd you make out?  Did you ever successfully get that PS3 equipped engine to run in conventional mode? (I believe Phil 55 and others who have experienced this phenomena would be interested to know).

Thanks to all who have replied. In the end, I did not get it to reset. I put the loco back in the styrofoam cradle and its box. It's sitting in a pile with other household items to be donated to a church auction set for April(unless covid restrictions cancel the auction). May try one last time before hauling it away but doubtful.

jini5 - And did you do BOTH a Feature AND Factory Reset first in DCS mode, and then the other recommendations which GGG made?

It may be helpful to put the engine on rollers so that you can perform the necessary procedures w/o the engine running away.